The iPhone is once again one of the best Google phones on the planet

With Google's latest generation of better designed iOS apps, including Google+, Gmail, YouTube, Google Search, Google Maps, Chrome, and more, the iPhone 5 is once again among the very best Google phones on the planet. iOS may not enjoy the deep integration into everything Google that Android does, but for most things, the overall performance of the iPhone, and the ability to use the best of Google alongside the best of Apple, all on one device, makes for an incredibly compelling experience.

And it's been a while since any Apple or Google user could attest to that with anything approaching conviction.

When the iPhone first launched in 2007, then-Google CEO Eric Schmidt joined Steve Jobs on stage to announce their collaboration on the device. On top of Apple's revolutionary hardware and multitouch interface, the iPhone would enjoy Google's amazing services, including map data and, announced shortly after, YouTube. Then the dark days came, when Google switched Android from a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile Standard competitor to an iPhone competitor, strategically seeing where the market was shifting and deciding to ensure they wouldn't leave their destiny entirely to devices outside their control and corporate interests. Apple and Google went from partners to increasingly bitter rivals, and from a great relationship to one shattered and ruined, at the expense of their mutual user base.

Yet now, because of Google making this new, better generation of apps, and Apple approving them, we're approaching something of a renaissance. You can now, once again, have a phenomenal Google experience on the iPhone, whether that's just the Gmail you use at home or work, or the full suite of apps you prefer over Apple's built-in offerings.

Sure, it probably annoys both companies a great deal. But Apple needs great apps to sell more iPhones, and great Google apps are absolutely key to segment of their user base. Likewise, Google sells user attention, and iOS still provides the most valuable, persistent attention to sell. Both companies are smart enough to recognize this, and we benefit. For once.

In some ways, the Google experience on iOS still lags behind. For example, while voice control on Google Search is fast and accurate, it's nowhere nearly as powerful as Google Now is on Android. And, of course, the lack of any way to set third party apps as the default in iOS, instead of Apple's apps, reduces the convenience. Likewise, Google Chrome's inability to use the more powerful Nitro JavaScript engine, while by no means a showstopper, is an unfortunate hiccup in Apple's heavily sandboxed playground.

Yet in other ways, Google on iOS is even better. Using Android without wanting to use Google isn't pleasant, but on iOS you can easily pick and choose your Google Services, and mix and match between them, Apple's built-in services, and offerings from Yahoo!, Microsoft, and others. You also get the benefit of Apple's still much smoother user interface, which doesn't offer all the features of Android, but handles everything from scrolling to swiping to tapping with far, far more buttery-ness than even the latest version of Jelly Bean.

But I've been using a Nexus 4 for the last few weeks, and it's an amazing complement to the iPhone, strong where Apple is weak and vice versa. But thanks to the much-improved quality of Google's iOS apps, I can pretty much jump from one device to the other and back without missing a beat.

I'm trying to reduce the amount of social networks I'm engaged in, but Google+ works great on the iPhone. I prefer unified inboxes, so I generally stick to Apple's Mail app, but when I'm in Gmail only mode, the new Gmail app is fantastic. I don't sign in to my browsers, so Chrome doesn't give me any advantages on iOS, but for those who do, it's great. Google Maps, on the other hand, provides the reliability Apple's Maps have thus far failed to provide. And the list goes on and on.

For anyone who loves Google but, for whatever reason, doesn't care for Android, the iPhone is once again more than just a good alternative. For the first time in a long time, the iPhone is once again one of the best Google phones on the planet.

If you've gone all in on Gmail apps on your iPhone, especially if you've also used Android recently, let me know how you think the experience compare.

The iPhone is once again one of the best Google phones on the planet

Coming from an Android lover who's using an iPhone. I will say these Google apps work great on it! If only if I could use google now instead of Siri. I use all the google alternatives more than the native apple counterparts. I Do miss my nexus

Just noticed this is an old article. I'm confused as to why flipboard is showing me this.
Anyway, does anyone still find apple maps unreliable? I've never had problems with it and I live in a small city. However I'll be glad when apple integrates hopstop for transit directions though

Google is probably annoyed YouTube and maps aren't default applications but other than that they're probably fine with it. After all google's money maker is ads and anyway they can serve you ads I'm sure they're a-ok with.

I switched over from Android and I totally love the screen size. Way easier to handle. Also I keep my screen clean and dump everything in folders in the second and third screens so I don't really see the problem.

I've been hesitate to move everything over to the Google services because they have no dedicated calendar app. I would love to see one from Google. While their at it, it would be nice to see a dedicated contacts app as well.

I also hope that Apple will one day allow consumers to change the default apps. I guess only time will tell. Anyone else switch completely over to the dedicated Google apps on IOS?

Much Smoother? I cant comprehend any device being "much smoother" then my nexus 4. The iPhone has a smoother browser, and thats because Chrome is still complete ass (but the integration with google now and chrome on desktop still make it my daily browser). Besides that I have never seen any lag in my phone. iOS has its one ups over Android (and vice versa), but smoothness ISN'T one of them anymore.

Yes it is, and objectively, empirically so. It's not something you can argue with. It's in the code. Again, it's supposed to be fixed in the next version of Android, but up to today, they're not prioritizing UI performance in the code, and absent that, it's impossible for it to be as good.

Arguing that it is is like arguing iOS is as good as Android at multiple apps, or that the sun rises under our feet.

Visibly speaking I see no lag. Ever. I see lag every so often on my Tegra 3 N7, but I dont see lag on my N4. I'm not saying that the iPhone isnt smoother based on code, I'm saying visibly I cant tell a difference between the smoothness of my phone and an iPhone. Under the hood I'm sure Android is a more strenuous OS, but the processors these days seem to handle it just fine. I dont know how one could get much better then no lag, but maybe I have a special N4.

It's not lag exactly. But the over all "feel" of moving about the UI is just not as smooth on Android compared to iOS. My Moto X is plenty powerful and doesn't lag. It just isn't as smooth scrolling, flicking, pinching, zooming, panning, while interacting with the screen; it just isn't. The Nexus 5 performs exactly the same way, the devices are plenty powerful. It's an Android problem not a hardware problem.

"You also get the benefit of Apple's still much smoother user interface, which doesn't offer all the features of Android, but handles everything from scrolling to swiping to tapping with far, far more buttery-ness than even the latest version of Jelly Bean."
This is not true. I have a Maxx HD with Nova Launcher, and there is not an iPhone that is smoother. BTW, I also have an iPhone.

Last night at CES, I was talking about it with Brian Klugg from Anandtech and Alex Dobie from Android Central. Brian put my Nexus 4 in dev mode and had it show screen redraws. Multiple times it was redrawing the same elements 4x (in the red), which is a huge performance hit.

Once again, the next version of Android is supposed to fix this, but that's what they always say.

Well, the home screen feels fine with Nova or Apex, but there's still some lag in apps and menus. An example is in a maps application for Android - any of them! It's not as smooth as with iOS (iOS almost always with 55-60fps, Android drops a lot of fps when challenged).

I've switched over to all the google apps just to try them out. Been going for two weeks now. They are exceptional apps, and the cross platform synchronization is very useful, but they do suffer from iOS sand boxing them.

I'm not sure it's apples best play to lock apps down the way they do. Having the best services and software running without limitations would be amazing to see. Would drive apple to make their own apps better too.

I agree. I am one of those people who loves Google but doesn't particularly care for Android. My iPhone 5 with the suite of Google apps is great. One thing I have always done on my iPhones is sync my Google contacts and calendar with the native iOS contacts and calendar apps. This makes for a smoother back and forth from the computer browser to my device. Many people don't know that there is a different way to setup a Gmail account on iPhones that allows you to also sync the gmail contacts. Instead of setting it up through the "Gmail" option in iOS settings... Use Microsoft Exchange instead. This will sync mail/contacts/calendar but not notes. But who really cares about notes anyways?

You can set up cardDAV and calDAV easily enough, and in many ways they are better than Exchange sync, but with neither Google nor Apple supporting the push flavors of IMAP, there is no real solution for push mail to Mail.app, so, if that is what you need, make sure to set up your devices now.

Gotcha. Well that stinks. But yes, cardDAV and calDAV are also valid options. I've actually started using the Gmail app for iOS and I do like it, aside from the unified inbox. But I can always use Sparrow app for that as well if need be.

I use Hotmail for my Calendar and primary email. Their service just syncs so well on my iOS devices, seamlessly and instantly. I was using it for contacts as well but I switched my contacts over to iCloud with the intent to get rid of my Windows PC and move to either an iMac or a Mac mini. I have tried using Gmail for contact syncing in the past but it didn't work as well. Mind you that was a few years ago.

I have to disagree with the notion that the iPhone is one of the best google phones. Google made remarkable strides in their iOS support in 2012, but there are some hard limits they can never overcome. You mentioned Chrome and Nitro, but Google will never be able to, on their own, make Google Maps the default (and Google for some incomprehensible reason has not integrated Contacts). They cannot make Gmail cannot download messages in the background, or open mail links. They cannot integrate Google voice with the dialer or make it work well with caller id (except on Sprint). They cannot make Google Now searches take any less taps to implement, or implement its predictive functions at all. Nor will they ever be able to do so, unless Apple changes their rules and/or Apple and Google link arms from Cupertino to Mountain View singing Kum-bay-ya.

None of this makes the iPhone a bad phone. It is great that these Google services are available on iOS, but every single one of them is less than best-of-breed, so it is just not close to one of the best *Google* phones. Instead of having the "best of Google alongside the best of Apple," we have "the pretty-good of Google alongside the best of Apple." To me, that combination still makes the iPhone the best phone on the planet. But the best *Google* phone? Nah.

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